Regina Fletcher v. Michael Astrue

UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 12-2544 REGINA JUANITA FLETCHER, Plaintiff - Appellant, v. MICHAEL ASTRUE, Commissioner of Social Security, Defendant - Appellee. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, at Baltimore. Thomas M. DiGirolamo, Magistrate Judge. (1:10-cv-03358-TMD) Submitted: March 26, 2013 Decided: March 28, 2013 Before DUNCAN, FLOYD, and THACKER, Circuit Judges. Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion. Regina Juanita Fletcher, Appellant Pro Se. Alex Gordon, Assistant United States Attorney, Baltimore, Maryland, for Appellee. Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. PER CURIAM: Regina Juanita Fletcher seeks to appeal the magistrate judge’s final order * upholding the Commissioner of Social Security’s denial of benefits. In civil cases like Fletcher’s, parties are accorded sixty days after entry of the district court’s final judgment or order to note an appeal. Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(1)(B). The order that Fletcher seeks to appeal was entered on September 24, 2012. Fletcher thus had sixty days, or until Friday, November 23, 2012, to file a notice of appeal. Nevertheless, Fletcher did not file a notice of appeal until December 7, 2012 — two weeks too late. Because “the timely filing of a notice of appeal in a civil case is a jurisdictional requirement,” we lack jurisdiction to consider Fletcher’s claims. Bowles v. Russell, 551 U.S. 205, 214 (2007). Accordingly, we dismiss this appeal for lack of jurisdiction. We deny leave to proceed in forma pauperis. We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials before this court and argument would not aid the decisional process. DISMISSED * Fletcher consented to the exercise of jurisdiction by the magistrate judge, as permitted by 28 U.S.C. § 636(c) (2006). 2